John Oliver returned from vacation on Sunday night for a new episode of “Last Week Tonight,” and to start the show, he admitted there was no way he could possibly cover everything he missed this month. That said, the late night host couldn’t resist piling onto the mockery of Senator Josh Hawley for fleeing rioters on January 6.
As part of last Thursday night’s Jan. 6 committee hearing, a video was teed up by Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) who explained that Hawley also fled the Capitol that day, shortly after he raised a fist to salute the crowd on his way into work that morning. The video quickly went viral, with the hosts of “The View” calling Hawley a “shrimp wimp” and late night host Stephen Colbert even adding various music and sound effects to the footage.
So naturally, Oliver got a few shots in before getting into his main story.
“That is painfully embarrassing,” he said. “That is the gait of a man who’s either just gassed up an insurrection that is now bearing down on top of him, or just drank a large iced coffee 45 minutes ago. Either way, those legs scream ‘I’ve made a huge mistake.’”
That said, Oliver noted that his commentary — and really, everyone’s commentary — on the footage couldn’t come close to the response of Capitol police officer Michael Fanone, who was injured on January 6.
In one interview Fanone did with press, he put it bluntly: “The first thoughts that popped into my mind is Josh Hawley is a bitch. And he ran like a bitch.” And though Oliver loved Fanone’s thoughts, he did disagree ever so slightly.
“Now, I personally would not say that,” he said. “I would say Josh Hawley is a bitch who ran like a chihuahua desperately trying to keep up with its owner on a casual walk. But you know what? To each their own!”